Brazil Politics & Government News

President Dilma Rousseff said the government will implement fiscal and credit access measures to stimulate production and exports with the purpose of gaining competitiveness in a global context of crisis (MercoPress).

The Supreme Court ruled the Ficha Limpa, (or “Clean Record”) anti-corruption law to be constitutional, announcing that it would be enforced for the upcoming municipal elections in October. The law – which prohibits politicians with criminal convictions or a record of political charges – from taking office for eight years, first came out in 2010 (The Rio Times).

The government expects to have economized between R$75 million and R$100 million by reducing electricity consumption 4.5% to 5% during the daylight savings time period (“horário de verão”) this year in the regions it was in effect: South, Southeast, Central-West and the state of Bahia (Agencia Brasil).

Officials from top emerging market countries will discuss fledgling plans to set up a multilateral bank to fund projects in developing nations during upcoming Group of 20 meetings, a senior Brazilian government official said (Reuters).

Brazil wants to increase the amount of locally made parts in cars built by its auto industry, one of the main reasons it is seeking to end a free-trade agreement with Mexico (Reuters).

A Brazilian buying spree takes place in New York that shows no sign of slowing. The city is already teeming with Brazilian tourists, and many of them, flush with cash from a booming economy back home, are snapping up their own pieces of Manhattan. While Russians like Dmitry Rybolovlev, the buyer of an $88 million penthouse at 15 Central Park West, boast in press releases about their trophy properties, Brazilians have quietly become steady clients for higher-end brokers in New York and Miami (The New York Times).

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DEFENSE & SECURITY

Brazil is moving toward implementing plans to develop its defense industry market in Latin America and the Caribbean. An exponential increase in Brazilian aviation and defense industries was predicted by experts as the government began investing billions of dollars on reviving factories that had been neglected in the first decade of transition to civilian rule from military dictatorship (UPI).

The Brazilian army has received digital intercoms from Thales in the Netherlands for use on armored personnel carriers. Thales supplied the SOTAS systems through its Brazilian subsidiary Omnisys (Outcome Magazine).

Cape Verde plans to set up partnerships with countries such as Portugal and Brazil to acquire fixed wing aircraft to patrol and inspect Cape Verde’s territorial waters (Atlantico Weekly).

The strikes by police and firefighters that have affected Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, have now reached the capital Brasília, and organizers are speaking out around the country (The Rio Times).